Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

*SPOILER FREE

Why love and desire are often associated with fire, passion as a burning flame, sex as the hot act of love? Why fire? What is fire?

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a historical romantic drama set on an isolated island in eighteenth-century Brittany, France. Following Marianne, a female portraitist who's on a secret assignment to paint a wedding portrait of her subject, Héloïse, an aristocrat female who's resisting being painted and doesn't want to get married. Marianne must paint Héloïse without her knowing by discreetly observing her as her walking companion. Slowly the two ladies start to realize that they are in love.

Shot in 8K, featuring no musical score and using minimal dialog. This film expresses itself and its intimacy through rhythm, slow-burn meditative sequences, and exquisite tension. Our two lead characters are given the time and space to present themselves seamlessly, they capture our attention and hearts, and take our breath away as their arcs unfold before us.

Having had a previous real-life love-affair with the female director, Adèle Haenel gives a sensational performance as Héloïse that couldn't be more authentic and feel more real.

Reflecting on women's identity and sexuality, women's art, and women's hustle in the period given and in contemporary societies with a high level of artistry. Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a feminine triumph.

Closing its curtains with a powerful, electrifying, and climactic crescendo, this masterpiece competes for crafting the greatest ending in cinema history.

Only few 21st century motion pictures look as beautiful and haunting on the aesthetic and artistic levels as this French melodrama. It's a feast for the eyes. "A manifesto about the female gaze". Articulated the female filmmaker.

This art-house cinematic experience is a transcendence of time and space, a tango between love and art, a poem of solitude, an ode to liberty and equality, a portrait of the human longing.

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Available to watch, rent/buy on Apple TV, Google Play, The Criterion Collection, and on Amazon Prime Video

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